Finishing of artificial silk fabrics



vantage known as splitting", that is'to say, the

Patented Aug. 6, 1935 UNITED- STATES 2,010,757 PATENT OFFICE 2,010,757 FINISHING OF ARTIFICIAL SILK FABRICS I Walter Hamis Glover, Warwick New Road, Leamington Spa, and Frank Shedden, Coventry, England, .assignors to Courtaulds Limited, London, England, a British company No Drawing.

Application November 11, 1932,

Serial No. 642,324. In Great Britain December 1 Claim. (CI. 91-68) It is alreadyknown that fabrics made entirely of artificial silk and woven in a relatively loose manner to produce softness in handling and a pleasing draping effect, have a serious disadagents are mentioned, including sulphoricinoleic' acid, oleic and stearic acids or sulpho acids thereof, carbocyclic compounds such as naphthenic acids, cycloparaffins, phenols and their sulphonic and carboxylic acids, sulpho aromatic fatty acids, such as sulpho-benzene stearic acid, and others, and soluble resin soaps or sodium or other soluble salts or soaps'of resin acids.

We have now found that we can obtain a nonslip finish on fabrics containing artificial silk, without deleteriously affecting the handle thereof by treating the said fabricswith a dilute solu-. tion or dispersion of a resin acid or of a salt of a resin acid, which solution contains notmore than 4 per cent and preferably not more than 2 per cent of the resin acid and causing the resin acid to be deposited on the surface of the filaments of the fabric.

When according to this invention, artificial silk fabric is treated with a dilute aqueous solution or dispersion of an alkaline salt of a resin acid, or with a dilute solution of an alkaline salt of a resin acid in an organic solvent, it is subsequently subjected to a hydrolyzing treatment so as to deposit the resin acid on the fabric.

The hydrolysis of the resin acid salt may becarried out bytreating the fabric with a large volume of water at a comparatively high temperature, and good results may also be obtained by treatment with a dilute acid. If the ammonium salt of a resin acid be employed, the hydrolysis can be effected by heating the fabric. When according to this invention a dilute solution or dispersion of a resin acid is employed, instead of a salt thereof, no hydrolysis is necessaryand the material, after impregnation, can be merely squeezed and dried.

It is preferred to carry out the treatment of the fabric with the solution or dispersion of the resin acid, or resin acid salt, at a comparatively low temperature.

The treatment according to this invention is applicable to fabrics made from all types of artificial silk.

The following examples will further illustrate how the said invention may be carried out in practice, but the invention is not restricted to these examples.

Example 1 Common resin (colophony resin) is dissolved in just sufficient warm sodium hydroxide solution to give a clear solution and this is then diluted with cold water until the concentration of the resin is reduced to about 2 per cent. The fabric to be treated is soaked in this solution at ordinary temperature and the excess squeezed out.

The fabric is passed several times through a large volume of water at from to centigrade. The fabric is then rinsed and dried at a moderate temperature.

Example 2 Colophony resin is dissolved in just suflicient warm sodium hydroxide to give a clear solution which is then diluted until the concentration of the resin is reduced to about 2 per cent.. The fabric is soaked in this solution at ordinary temperature and the excess squeezed out. It is passed through a bath of hydrochloric acid of from 0.2 to 0.5 per cent strength, washed until free from acid and dried at a gentle heat.

Example 3 1 part of colophony resin is dissolved in 5 parts of industrial methylated spirit; 0.5 part of strong ammonia diluted with three or four times its weight of water is then added at I finally the remainder of the water making a total of parts. The final solution is clear or slightly cloudy. The fabric is immersed in this, the excess of the solution squeezed out, and the fabric dried at a moderate heat.

Example 4 the excess, the cloth is dried at a gentle heat.

What we claim is:-

Process of treating artificial silk fabric to give it a non-slip finish comprising treating said fabric with a dilute alkaline salt of a resin acid containing not more than 4 per cent of the resin acid, and hydrolyzing the salt by treatment with dilute acid.

WALTER HAMIS GLOVER. FRANK SHEDDEN. 

